Secret Snuggles
by Kharma
Summary: When two people share a bed on a regular basis, unexpected things sometimes happen
1. Sydney

Title : Secret Snuggles

Author: Emma (kharma)

Rating : PG13 to be on the safe side

Part: 1/?

Summary: When two people share a bed on a regular basis, sometimes things happen.

Disclaimer: Nigel still doesn't belong to me (but it doesn't stop me wishing that he did). Nobody else in this belongs to me either.

Archive: , yes. Anyone else, ask and ye shall receive.

A/N: My first RH fic in quite a while so if it's no good I apologise in advance. This hasn't been betaed so any and all mistakes are mine and mine alone. Reviews are actively encouraged but flames will only be used to feed the dragon that keeps a fire alight under my muse. You have been warned.

Sydney Fox woke up, shifted slightly and sighed when she felt the owner of the arm currently wrapped lightly around her waist move in his sleep.

'This is getting ridiculous!' she thought. 'We end up like this every time we sleep in the same bed.'

_'Not that you particularly mind,'_ a little voice that sounded suspiciously like Claudia said in her head and Sydney sighed again.

She didn't mind and that was part of the problem. Normally, when she shared a bed with a man and she woke up with him wrapped around her she hated it. It made her feel trapped for some reason. With Nigel, all she felt was safe and protected and it was starting to seriously worry her.

They had shared a bed plenty of times while on a hunt, sometimes it was unavoidable, but the last few months it seemed that every time she woke up first he was either wrapped around her or she was sprawled half on top of him. She just thanked God that she always woke up first, poor Nigel would be mortified if he found out about some of the positions they had slept in.

Take now, for instance. When they had gone to bed, Nigel had very carefully made sure that he was as far away from Sydney as it was possible to get while still sharing the same mattress. Now, it was as though he was trying to crawl inside her skin. They were laying on their right sides, Sydney's head resting on his right arm with his left arm wrapped around her waist and their legs tangled together.

Sydney let the fingers of her right hand trail lightly down the arm that rested over her waist and gave in to the temptation to snuggle back further into his body. _'And what a body it is,'_ the Claudia voice said. _'Looks like Nigel's been holding out on us, Syd.'_

Sydney hated to admit it, but the little voice in her head was right. While nowhere near in the league of some of the men she had known, Nigel's body was filling out nicely and he was no longer the scrawny kid who looked like a strong gust of wind could blow him over. He now had muscles in all the right places and she had caught more than one woman checking him out as they walked past.

The arm around her waist tightened and Sydney froze. "Please don't wake up, please don't wake up," she silently prayed and breathed a sigh of relief when Nigel relaxed again. The relief didn't last long because the next thing she felt was his warm breath on the back of her neck just before his lips brushed the skin just below her hair-line.

"So soft," he murmured in his sleep. "Smell so good, Syd."

Sydney's brain was screaming at her to move but was swiftly over-ruled by the rest of her, which told her to stay right where she was. She honestly didn't know if she was in heaven or hell. The feel of his lips on her skin was creating sensations she hadn't felt in far too long but she knew he would be unbelievably embarrassed if he woke up right at that moment, not to mention terrified at the thought of what she would do to him.

Still asleep, Nigel kissed the spot right behind her ear that was guaranteed to turn her to mush and she gasped. 'That's it,' she thought. 'If I don't stop this now, it'll be too late.' She glanced at the clock on the bedside cabinet and smiled slightly in relief when she realised that dawn was only about an hour away.

Taking a deep breath, she very slowly and carefully lifted the arm that was wrapped around her waist and slid out of the bed. She turned around to face the bed and smiled. Nigel looked so young while he was asleep, nobody would ever think he was probably the most intelligent person she had ever met.

She reached down and brushed the hair away from his face before gently kissing his forehead. "Sweet Nigel," she whispered, finally admitting something to herself that she had always refused to accept. "Why did the one man in the world that could make me want to give up hunting for relics have to be the one man in the world that would never ask me to?"

With a sigh, Sydney went to take a shower and prepared to start her day.

TBC.


	2. Nigel

Nigel irritably batted away the strand of hair that was tickling his cheek and wrinkled his nose when it started tickling that instead. Still more asleep than awake, he thought, "Sydney has got to start wearing her hair tied back during the night."

A slight movement of the silk covered body next to his snapped him awake in an instant and he almost swore out loud when he realised that it happened again.

For the fourth morning in a row he had woken up to find Sydney and himself cuddled together. No matter how far apart they were when they fell asleep, by the time he woke up they were as close together as it was possible to get.

It wouldn't have been so bad if it had only been the last few nights, he could have put that down to the stress of their current hunt or something, but it had actually been happening for the last 7 or 8 months. Every time they had to share a bed, something that seemed to happen more often than he would have thought possible, they would wake up in one of two positions.

Either they would be lying on their sides with his body curled around hers from behind or they would be in the position they were in now. Nigel was flat on his back with Sydney sprawled practically on top of him, her head tucked in the crook of his neck, one arm flung across his chest and her legs tangled with his.

Nigel had one arm wrapped around her shoulders and the other hand rested on her silk-clad hip, a fact that he had only just noticed and he guiltily snatched his hand away, praying that the sudden movement wouldn't wake her up. When her only response was to sigh and nuzzle her head further under his chin, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He glanced down and saw that the blankets had been kicked off the bed at some point during the night and he was treated to the sight of Sydney wearing just a silk nightgown. From the first day he had known her, Sydney had always been perfectly comfortable with her body and her sexuality and had no problem with wandering around their hotel room in her underwear or wearing sexy lingerie to bed. Much as Nigel enjoyed the view, he occasionally toyed with the idea of buying her a pair of flannel pyjamas just so that he wouldn't be confronted with how beautiful she looked wearing silk and lace.

He glanced at the clock on the bedside cabinet and sighed when he saw it was only 3am and therefore much to early for him to get up, take a very cold shower and try not to think about the obvious effect of waking up with a very beautiful woman in his arms.

Nigel very gently tried to extricate himself from the potentially fatally embarassing situation he found himself in, but Sydney was obviously comfortable where she was and didn't want to move. In fact, when he tried to slide out from underneath her sleeping form, she grabbed hold of his t-shirt and tried to get even closer to him.

He sighed and decided to try another way of getting out of the bed, hopefully without getting killed in the process. Thanks to a slightly drunken late-night conversation a few months ago, Nigel now knew that easiest way to get Sydney to relax was to brush hr hair. He hoped that just running his fingers through it would have the same effect and cause her to relax so much that she would let go of his shirt and allow him to slide out of bed.

What he hadn't counted on was the effect that it would have on him. The feel of the silken strands running through his fingers was probably the most sensual thing he had ever felt and the lingering aroma of her shampoo intoxicated him to the point that he never noticed when Sydney woke up.

She lay there for a few minutes, wondering what the hell he was doing and then decided that she really didn't care as long as he kept doing it. When his finger lightly brushed the nape of her neck, it took every ounce of willpower that she had not to give in to the moan that was trying to break free. Sydney knew she had to stop what was happening before things went too far and she did what she had wanted to for a while. Namely, pin him to the mattress and show him exactly how much fun sharing a bed could be, although she had a sneaky suspicion that Nigel could show her a few things as well.

"Nigel," she eventually said quietly. "What are you doing?"

Nigel yelped in surprise and moved away from her so fast; anyone would have thought she had suddenly become red hot. Sydney let him go, turned onto her side, propped her head on her hand and watched him as he practically scuttled to the other side of the room and as far away from the bed as possible.

Sydney didn't say anything for a moment, she just watched him as he paced the length of the room and back again, muttering under his breath the whole time. She figured that this sort of behaviour could go on all night if she didn't put a stop to it, so she did just that. "Nigel!" she said sharply. "Stop all that pacing around and muttering and come back to bed."

Hearing Sydney say 'Come back to bed' sent a glow to Nigel's cheeks that could have rivalled a lighthouse and he finally turned to face her. "I'm sorry, Syd," he apologised. "But you were sprawled all over me. I was only trying to wake you up a little so I could move. I wasn't trying to take advantage or anything."

Sydney sighed and let her stern expression soften. "Relax, Nigel," she said with a smile. "I know you would never do that. When two people share a bed as often as we do, these things happen, it's perfectly normal. Now, will you please come back to bed so we can both get some sleep?"

Nigel gestured towards the couch. "I, uh, I'll sleep on the couch for tonight, Syd. Let you get a good night's sleep."

Sydney sighed again. "Nigel," she said sweetly. "That couch isn't long enough for you to sleep on, which is how we ended up in the same bed in the first place. Now, it's late, I'm tired and if you don't get your butt over here and into this bed so I can go back to sleep, I'm going to come over there and kick it. Okay?"

Nigel gulped nervously and nodded before hesitantly crossing the room and sitting back down on the very edge of the bed. With an irritated sigh, Sydney leant over the edge of the bed, grabbed the blankets and dragged them back onto the bed before practically forcing Nigel into lying down. "Look," she said as she once again draped herself over him. "If it makes you feel any better, we can discuss this in the morning, but right now I would just like to go back to sleep. So, just close your eyes and relax and before you know it, we'll be having the most uncomfortable discussion of our entire lives."

Nigel couldn't stop the snort of suppressed laughter that escaped him and Sydney smiled. She knew that once she got him smiling about something, the battle was half over. She settled down and felt his arm instinctively wrap around her shoulder and she smiled as she let her eyes drift closed.

Nigel thought there was no way on Earth he would ever be able to get to sleep, but the surprisingly light weight of Sydney laying practically on top of him and the gentle sound of her steady breathing soon relaxed him to the point where sleep swept over him in the space between one heartbeat and the next.

In the darkness, Sydney smiled and snuggled closer when she felt him relax into sleep. Her last conscious thought before she too fell asleep, held securely in the arms of her best friend, was that the next morning was definitely going to be something to look forward to.

TBC


	3. The TALK

When Nigel woke the next morning he was alone. In those few seconds between sleeping and being totally awake, his brain blessedly withheld the memories of the night before and then reality kicked in and his eyes snapped open.

"Oh God!" he groaned mentally. "Sydney's going to kill me when she finds out how long this has been going on. I wonder if I've got enough time to pack and get out of here before she comes back and tears me limb from limb." The ridiculousness of the last thought finally made him smile and he shook his head in disbelief at his own stupidity. "Of course she's not going to kill me," he said aloud. "She said herself that these things occasionally happen. We're both adults, I'm sure we can handle this in a mature fashion."

Feeling slightly better, Nigel got out of bed and headed for the bathroom to take a shower before Sydney got back. It wasn't that he minded showering while Sydney was in the other room; it was just that, no matter how many times he asked her not to, she had a habit of walking in without knocking.

When he came out 20 minutes later, Sydney was sitting at the table on the small balcony and reading the paper. She had obviously been out because the tabletop was covered with take out bags and cups of coffee. She looked up when she heard the bathroom door close and smiled. "Morning Nigel," she said cheerily and then went right back to reading her paper.

Nigel just looked at her for a few seconds, totally confused by her behaviour. He had expected her to get right into the discussion about what had happened the night before and he couldn't understand why she was putting it off. "Oh well," he thought with a mental laugh. "Anything that keeps me alive for a little bit longer is a good thing."

He strolled over and pulled out the remaining chair at the table. "So," he said calmly. "What's for breakfast?"

Sydney looked over the top of her paper and smiled. "Take your pick. There's bagels with cream cheese, muffins and fresh fruit. To drink we have coffee and fruit juice." She bent down to the bag propped up against her chair and pulled out another paper. "Oh," she said as threw it at him. "I picked up your paper while I was out as well."

"Thanks," Nigel said, slightly surprised by her obvious good mood but not saying anything. He sat himself down at the table and started on the breakfast that Sydney had bought. The next hour passed pleasantly. The only conversation was occasional remark about something in one of the papers and comments about the weather and the food. It suddenly occurred to Nigel that he had seen couples have less congenial breakfasts and he couldn't help smiling ruefully. The idea of someone like Sydney being married to someone like him was ludicrous; they were polar opposites, totally different in every way.

"What's the smile for?" Sydney asked and Nigel blinked and shook himself out of his thoughts.

"What?" he said and then realised what she had said. "Oh. Nothing, just thinking."

"Care to share with the rest of the class?" Sydney asked with a smile.

"Not especially," Nigel said with a shrug and went back to reading his paper. When he looked up again ten minutes later, Sydney had folded her own paper and was watching him over the top of the cup of coffee that she was drinking. "We're going to have that conversation now, aren't we?" he asked and sighed when Sydney nodded in response. "Anyway I can get out of it?" he couldn't resist asking and Sydney smiled.

"Nope!" she declared and Nigel folded up his paper with another sigh.

"Okay," he said. "But can I go first?"

Sydney smiled. "I yield the floor," she said and Nigel couldn't help a small smile at her behaviour. It didn't look like she was particularly upset, but you never knew with Sydney.

"First of all," Nigel said. "I'm sorry. I never meant for you to find out about this. You have to know that I would never deliberately take advantage of you like that. I mean, it was a total accident. Nothing happened."

"Why wouldn't you take advantage of me?" Sydney demanded. "What's the matter? Am I not pretty enough for you?"

Nigel gaped at her in shock and started to stammer a reply when Sydney burst out laughing. "Oh God!" she gasped between giggles. "If you could see the look on your face right now." She reached out and covered his hand with her own. "Relax, Nigel," she said with a gentle smile. "I'm just teasing, I know you would never take advantage of me like that, but the fact remains that we may have a problem."

"I know," he agreed. "But short of me quitting, I don't know what to do about it."

Sydney scowled at the idea. "That is NOT going to happen," she promised. "If you think I'm letting the best assistant I ever had leave over something like this, you're wrong."

"So what do we do?" Nigel asked. "Just ignore it and hope it goes away? We're both adults, I'm sure that's not going to be a problem."

Sydney was silent for a while and Nigel stared into his coffee, desperately praying that this wasn't the end of the best relationship he had ever had in his life. Sydney was not only his boss, she was also his best friend and he didn't know what he would do if he didn't have her around anymore.

"I did a lot of thinking this morning," Sydney suddenly said quietly and Nigel looked up from his coffee mug, waiting for her to continue. "And I came to a conclusion. I don't want to ignore this, Nigel. This has been going on too long now. I think we need to face the fact that something may be going on here."

"Like what?" Nigel asked. He thought he had a pretty good idea of what she was trying to say, but he needed to hear her say it.

Sydney got out of her chair and paced restlessly to the edge of the balcony. She gazed out at the city below for a moment, just collecting her thoughts, and then turned back to Nigel. "I don't know," she said truthfully. "All I know is that I like waking up in your arms. I like the fact that the smell of the soap you use lingers on my skin for hours after we share a bed. I like feeling your breath on the back of my neck when you wrap yourself around me and I like hearing your heart beat when I cuddle up to you. But there's one thing I really hate. I hate the way I feel empty on those mornings when I wake up and you're on the other side of the bed, that's even worse than the way I feel when I wake up alone."

Nigel walked across to join her at the rail. He took her hand in his, holding tighter when she tried to pull it away. He could see in her eyes that she was suddenly unsure of his reaction and he almost smiled. The Sydney he knew was never afraid of anything and he felt a sudden rush of love for her. "What are you trying to say, Syd?" he asked quietly and she shrugged.

"I'm saying that maybe our unconscious minds are trying to tell us something. That maybe we shouldn't fight this, that we should go with it and see where it takes us."

"Take it slowly, you mean?" Nigel asked. "See if there's anything more between us than friendship?"

Sydney nodded. "Exactly," she said. "You know, have long talks, see movies, go to dinner, that sort of thing."

"Date in other words?" Nigel said and Sydney nodded again. Nigel frowned. "There's just on problem with that, Syd. I don't want to do any of that." He saw the tears that suddenly came to her eyes as she tried once to pull her hand from his and he cursed himself for putting it so clumsily.

"It's okay, Nigel," Sydney said, trying desperately not to give in to the tears that were threatening to fall. "I understand, we're just good friends and that's it." She felt the first tear trickle down her cheek and she looked away from him.

Nigel reached and gently turned her to face him; he leant forward and lightly brushed his lips over hers. "You didn't let me finish," he said with a small smile as he wiped away the tear with his thumb. "What I was going to say before I was so rudely interrupted was that I don't want to take it slow. Everything you've just said about the long talks and the dinners and the movies, we've been doing for the last 4 years. You know things about me that I have never told another soul."

"What do you want, Nigel?" Sydney asked and Nigel grinned.

"I want you," he said. "I want everything you have to give me. I want your mind, your heart, your body and your soul and I want it all now. But I'm willing to go slowly if that's what you want."

Sydney looked at him for a moment and then burst into tears. Nigel gently gathered her into his arms and stroked her hair while she cried. "I never thought I would see the day when the great Sydney Fox would cry over any man," he teased when she finally lifted her head from his shoulder.

"Only over you, Nigel," she promised. "You're the only one that has ever been worth the tears."

He smiled. "You know," he said conversationally. "If you didn't look so terrible right now, I'd kiss you."

"I do not look terrible!" Sydney stated indignantly.

"Yes you do," Nigel teased. "Your nose is all runny and your eyes are all red and swollen. You're really not looking at your most attractive right now, Sydney." She raised her hand to slap him on the shoulder but Nigel grabbed it and kissed the palm. "Sydney," he said quietly as he slowly kissed his way up her arm to the point where her shoulder met her neck. "Just how slowly did you want to take this?"

His only response was Sydney grabbing his shirt front, pulling him tightly against her and kissing him. When she finally let him up for air, he grinned. "So we're not taking ti slowly then?" he asked.

Sydney grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the bedroom. "No we bloody well are not!" she declared as she pushed him onto the bed and almost threw herself on top of him.

Further discussions about just how fast they were going to take things could definitely wait, they both decided.

The End.


End file.
